"Whiskey Trail"?

We haven't done the whole Whisky Trail, but have toured several Speyside distilleries. Aviemore makes a good base. Several excellent distilleries can be reached by train or bus and there are even "whisky taxies" that will take you to several distilleries in a day. We enjoyed Dalwhinnie distillery best. I want to get to Campbelltown and Dufftown as there are some good ones there. Bellvinnie 12 years double wood is one of my favorite single malts. A good pub will also arrange a whisky tasting for you- they will pick several (3 or 4 or more) single malts from various regions that use different methods(heavier peating, more salt air, double wood, etc) and teach you how to "taste" whisky. Aviemore is a great village- lots to do. We like to stay at the Caringorm Hotel. It is across from the rail station and looks like a small castle on the outside and a hunting lodge inside. Their resturant has some of the best food I've ever eaten.

It depends on what kind of whisky you like. (Note the absence of the "e". Irish and Bourbon include the "e".) Granted, the castles and hiking go well with Speyside, but the west coast, particularly Islay has quite a few distilleries that are more peaty. Or, Skye had Talisker and the Dunvegan Castle and wonderful walking. The Isle of Mull has a distillery and Duarte Castle which is quite good. I liked Pitlochry where there is distillery in town and there are good walks and Blair Castle.

There is a wonderful book call Raw Spirit by Iain Banks. It's about his search for the perfect dram. You may have to order from amazon.co.uk

To be honest there are not a lot of tourist traps that rise to the American perfection of tourist trips that are represented by places like Gatlinberg in Tennessee or The Dells here in Wisconsin. ; ) The closest are the Nessie businesses or maybe the tartan tattie shops on The Royal Mile.

Pam

Speyside is an excellent area. While I would have to call the "Whiskey Trail" a bit of a marketing gimmick, the distilleries make excellent whisky and they give great tours. I would definitely recommend Speyside. Several distilleries that quickly come to mind are Glenfarclas, Macallan, Aberlour. We thought that the Glenfarclas tour was great. Sadly, due to time limitations, we had to pass on Aberlour, which is 10 pounds, but lasts 2 hours and includes 6 different whiskies to sample. Another great distillery, south of Speyside, is Edradour, http://www.edradour.co.uk/index4.html Thy have a tasting room where you can try a wide variety of whiskies for very reasonable prices. Some of the whiskies are from distilleries that are no longer in business.

We stayed at the Lynwood B&B, run by a marvelous English couple, Ian and Mo, http://www.lynwood-bedandbreakfast.co.uk/index.html. Fair warning, this is a B&B in the truest sense. You'll literally be staying in a room in their house. If you stay there, say "Hi" to Ross, their dog! Sadly, they are not within wobbling distance. Fortunately, they are a very short drive from the Highlander, a great pub, and the Craigellachie Hotel. Both have a GREAT selection of whiskies in their bar. ALMOST too many. Almost. Try the Macallan Easter Elchies. These are whiskies that are not shipped outside of Scotland. They cost a bit, but they are well worth the money.

With all due respect to Rick Steves, we found Lonely Planet provided far more information for Scotland. I highly recommend picking up a copy.

FYI, once you get outside of the bigger cities in Scotland, you will need to rent a car, as most things to see can be reached only by car.

Here's a few other web sites to get you started. http://www.dufftown.co.uk/, http://www.spiritofspeyside.com/index.php, and http://www.maltwhiskytrail.com/